Staff turnover: How your building can help to retain an occupier’s workforce

How do you go about retaining your top talent? How does your business premises impact on your staff turnover? Surely it’s all about bonuses, perks and benefits? Of course, these things are important; but scratch the surface and you can see how a building itself and how it is managed can help you to address many aspects of staff wellbeing and contentment. In a competitive environment where many business owners struggle to retain their best-skilled workers, we’ve identified seven parts of working life to consider. More than this, we can show you how your building can support you in achieving workplace satisfaction.

1. Appreciate Your Staff

To feel truly appreciated, a business owner needs to think beyond bonus packages and a spangly Christmas party. We’ve all heard about sick building syndrome, and how the air quality of a building can impact on the wellbeing of its inhabitants. An underlying feeling of appreciation can be fostered simply by providing a high quality, well maintained and clean workspace. This is achieved not just through the nuts and bolts of the most hi-tech air conditioning systems, but by ensuring a regularly maintained and well-managed space.

2. Embrace Employees’ Talent

How many times have you heard a colleague complain “it’s too cold/hot to work!” Providing a working environment which allows your staff to achieve to their highest ability starts with something as simple as ensuring that the working atmosphere remains comfortable and constant.

3. Keep Communication Open

An organisation should strive towards a working culture which allows staff at all levels to both express their views and to be heard. At its most basic level, acoustics plays a part here with improved acoustics in a workspace representing a 67% increase in accuracy.

4. Build a Culture of Fairness

It is worth considering how the layout of a workspace can instigate feelings of ownership to that space. For employees at all stages of the ladder to feel free to utilise meeting rooms, for example, or to devise the flow of an office to prevent division between departments. It all plays its part in establishing a comfortable space for working.

5. Achieve a Work / Life Balance

There are many ways to work towards this goal, and more than any other aspect it is subjective and flexible. Health and wellness can be incorporated into the working day when a building allows. Utilise communal spaces for health or social events, for example, or install secure cycle parking as part of your building capability.

6. Give Clear Expectations

Don’t move the goalposts for your staff. Your workspace structure can enable this in offering the space and opportunity for workers to achieve the quiet space and privacy that they may require in order to meet the expectations that are laid out. Whether it is opening up small areas for private working to installing quiet zones, there are a wealth of opportunities that your building can offer to increase working privacy.

7. Develop Your Workers

Allowing employees to develop requires more than simply booking them on a stuffy course on a wet Wednesday. The lighting of your building and access to daylight that it enables can have a deciding impact on whether workers feel focused and able to take on developmental goals.

There is no single solution to unwanted staff turnover. Indeed, companies should tailor retention approaches to the individual motivations of different employees. One thing remains constant, though: that providing a high quality and well-managed working environment which enables staff to work comfortably and productively will create an environment which supports your staff retention. If workplace dissatisfaction arises, it can develop to undermine employee engagement, so once you have found your high-quality working environment, it is key to ensure that it is well maintained and well managed through professional property managers.

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